The Otherworldly Blaze
by RexBlazer1
Summary: The Gaang receives a new member, but one unlike any they've ever encountered before. One who raises as many questions and could tip the journey in their favor. But, who is this character, what is he, and how does he fit into the grand scheme of things? Read to find out! Constructive criticism only, please. My first OC story.
1. The Arrival

**AN: This is my first attempt at an OC story, and it includes a character that I plan to put on the bookshelves of stores someday when I'm done editing and revising the story. For now, here's my character interacting with Gaang.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA/LOK in any shape or form, and I don't see how I could make a profit off of this anyway. The only thing I own is my OC, whom you're about to meet.**

* * *

Now when one thinks of a gigantic snake-like being that is colored red and black and has power over fire, they often automatically assume that being is inherently evil. For this story, that is not the case in the slightest. Sure, there are some bad characters, but the one talked about here is different.

At first, his name was Guy Bowen, a tall seventeen year-old kid in high school with a form of Autism called Asperger's Syndrome back in 2008. The main problem that came with Asperger's was that it allowed for a slow development of social skills, and sure, he had friends, but that was through years of learning to adapt. Imagine the surprise he received when he found out that he had won a contest that gave him and few others a ride into space. After preparing for a few months, Guy and the other contestants took off into the sky and exited into space.

However, not long after they exited Earth's atmosphere, a video on the shuttle revealed that it was all part of some elaborate and unexplained plan by the man who built the spacecraft. The shuttle itself was rigged to blow, and there was an outside bomb that would activate if they tried to diffuse the one inside. The situation seemed hopeless for Guy and the other contestants.

That is, until Guy saw a strange object outside the shuttle, and it teleported him to another world altogether just in time before the bomb went off. Guy found that the planet he'd been sent to had habitable environment, as well as inhabitants. Flying, three-story tall, humanoid snake-like beings called the Shifters. They were so aptly named for their ability to shift the elements of fire, water, earth, air and lightning to their will. They also called the world they lived on Amerysia, named after their legendary ancestor Amerys, who could shift all five elements and was said to be immortal, while his descendants could only shift one element each and had limited lifespans.

The Shifters themselves, despite their size and power, were friendly and inviting towards Guy, though they did not possess a means of returning him home due to their lack of technology. This was because they lacked a need for many of the devices that humans relied upon. When Guy thought about it, it made sense, "Why would you need cars or aircraft if you can fly and shift an element?"

The Shifters had clear distinctions between the genders. The common traits they shared were that they all possessed wings and long snaky tails instead of legs. Their torsos were like the ones that matched their human counterparts as well, though a little more muscular due to the lack of a lower body, but that's where their similarities ended.

The males possessed no hair whatsoever, had claws instead of fingernails, had longer necks with cobra hoods, a human face, and a horn on top of their heads. The hoods almost gave them a pharaoh-like appearance.

The females had slender, girlish torsos and what appeared to be "hips," fingernails, human like necks and heads, and had eyebrows and long straight hair in Hime cuts, though almost reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian queens.

There were no non-Shifters, except for the animals, who had to rely mostly on strength, size, tooth and claw to survive.

The Shifters were also colored and had wings based on their elements:

The Fire-Shifters had bright red feathered wings that almost resembled that of a falcon. The males had mostly black scales, with exceptions of big red ones on their throats and underbellies, and the silver scales on their faces. The females had red scales all over with black hair. The eyes of both had black sclera and neon orange irises. They are the more spiritual of the Shifters.

The Water-Shifters owned a pair of bat-like wings with aqua blue on the front, and silver on the back. The males were predominantly colored navy blue with silver scales on their throats and underbellies, and light blue in the face as well. The females were aqua blue with silver in the same places as the males, as well as silver hair. The eyes of both were navy blue sclera and silver irises. They tend to live outside the big cities and stay near lakes and oceans, keeping more to themselves.

The Earth-Shifters possessed feathered wings as well; only theirs were bright green and slightly favored the wings of eagles. The males were mostly dark green with grass green adorning their faces, throat areas and underbellies. The females were predominantly the same color as a pink rose, with dark green upon their throats and underbellies, and their hair was blonde. The eyes of the two genders were dark green sclera with neon green irises. Amerysia has a royal family in charge of the whole planet, and they are predominantly made of Earth-Shifters while the others of this element tend to charge themselves with constructing homes and maintaining order.

The Air-Shifters had a very unique set of wings, as they were a little bat-like, but resembled more of an Asian fan, and were all around gray. Male Air-Shifters were more or less dark-gray, but a good bit lighter on their faces, throats and underbellies. Females were light-yellow for the majority of their bodies, with light gray on their throats and underbellies, as well as black hair. As stated with the others, both have the same eyes; dark gray sclera, and bright violet irises. These Shifters love to indulge in the performing art side of entertainment.

Last but not least, the Lightning-Shifters. Their wings resembled that of a pterodactyl, with sky blue on the front and gold on the back. The males and females were both predominantly gold colored with sky blue on their throats and underbellies, and the females possess blonde hair as well. The eyes of both are navy blue sclera with golden irises. They make up the more scholarly side of the Shifter community.

As for their attire, Shifters didn't require much, which was mostly due to the fact they didn't wear much at all. Whenever they did wear something, it was a set of robes for special occasions. Aside from that, females wore only mesh tank tops while the males wore nothing, and it was because they didn't _need_ to wear anything.

* * *

Unfortunately, Guy's comfort did not last, as he got infected with a disease that is carried by a four-story tall insect creature called an Ackja. The creature itself had a spider's body for a lower half, and an armored, humanoid torso with spikes and hooks for fingernails. Its head was elongated with a three-pointed crest atop it, and two jaws of razor-sharp teeth and mandibles on each side of its mouth, and two large eyes. On its back were two wings that looked like a mixture between that of insects and bats.

Not long after finding out he was infected, Guy was soon attacked by the Ackja itself. With help from Plantra, an Earth-Shifter and the Princess of Amerysia, Guy was able to stop and kill the overgrown insect. But he was still sick from the infection, and survival did not seem likely at that point.

However, not long after they killed the Ackja, the two received a surprise visit from Amerys himself. Amerys offered to change Guy into a Shifter in order to save his life. Guy accepted realizing that one way or another his human life was over. Using cosmic fire, Amerys transformed Guy into a Fire-Shifter, who he renamed as Blazer.

After his transformation into Blazer, the former human slowly but surely learned to adapt to his new life as a Shifter. He learned many things from different sources, some strange and confusing, and others made sense and greatly helped. Blazer made some new friends along the way, as well as a few enemies. But despite that, he managed to survive through it all. Later on, he and Plantra got together as a couple, and it was the first time either of them engaged in that sort of thing. Most of their friends believed that someday the two would marry, but no one was holding their breath just yet.

* * *

One day, a little over a year after his transformation, Blazer was flying with Plantra to oversee a dispute in a village not far from city they lived in.

"So, remind me again what this is about?" asked the Fire-Shifter.

The Earth-Shifter teen sighed, "As I have told you twice already, my mother sent me to this village to settle an argument between its leaders. As the Princess of Amerysia, it is my duty to ensure that things resolve peacefully and truthfully. I am bringing you along because I felt it might be good for you to witness how politics take place here."

"You know, back when I was human and living on Earth, I didn't find listening to politics, or even hearing about it for that matter, any bit enjoyable."

"Well you should-how do you often phrase it-get used it? You are in a relationship with me, Hot Stuff, so you are bound to deal with politicians and diplomacy at some point or another."

Groaning and sighing, Blazer replied, "Fine, I'll go along with it."

"Good," said Plantra with a smirk, "and perhaps, when this matter is settled, the two of us can go find a place to sit and kiss as we watch the sunset."

That brought a huge smile to Blazer's face, "You sure know how to make a guy eager, don't you?"

"Especially one as good as you," she said coyly.

Once the two lovers were done flirting, they noticed that they had reached their destination, only to find fires and smoke everywhere.

"Uh, Plantra?"

"Yes?"

"I think we may have to postpone our plans."

* * *

With that said, the two young adult Shifters flew down to see what the source of the chaos was. It turned out to be something they were unwittingly familiar with; a group of Ackja. The Ackja had been making more and more appearances since Blazer's arrival, and it often took multiple Shifters just to bring one of them down. Now they were four of them in this village, attacking and destroying it. Despite not having elemental power, the Ackja proved to be quite resilient in terms of their strength, durability, and determination in the pursuit of food. It's unwise to let them eat at all, as when one consumes enough, it vomits out three little Ackja who grow to full size in a few minutes.

Three Ackja were before them and were busy fighting off and dodging a group of Fire-Shifters, whose missed shots were hitting the streets as well as the buildings, creating more fires as well as pillars of smoke in the air.

"Oh, no," Blazer groaned, "Not these guys again!"

"It would appear they are unable to comprehend the message of leaving us alone. Do you not think so?" asked the Princess.

"Indeed I do. What say we help clear this place up of them?"

"With pleasure," said the Princess, who was already in the process of using her Earth-Shifting abilities to shoot large rocks at the heads of the three Ackja out in the open, knocking them down to the ground with their heads bleeding green liquid.

This gained the attention of the Shifters we just helped and they slithered up to us and they bowed to Plantra saying, "Your assistance is greatly appreciated, Your Majesty."

Gesturing for them to rise up, Plantra responded, "How did these Ackja come into this village?"

"And are there more of them here?" added Blazer.

The tallest one of them responded, "We are uncertain as to how they gained entrance, as they seemed to appear out of nowhere." Then he turned to Blazer, "We think there are at least two more roaming about this area, but we are not certain as to which of the buildings they are in."

Looking from side to side, then at each other, Blazer and Plantra gave each other an understanding nod.

"You search that side," said Blazer, pointing to his left.

"And you will search that side," finished Plantra, and the two split to find the Ackja.

Blazer tore open the doors each building he came across and it wasn't until about the third or fourth building that he finally found the Ackja, and saw it eating the remains of a female Air-Shifter it killed.

Not wanting to be surrounded by more of the dreaded insects, Blazer flew straight at the creature and rammed it into the wall before it could take another bite from the corpse. Blazer gave a few punches to the insect's face before it managed to pull him off of it, and then get off the wall. Next, Blazer threw a few flames in the direction of the Ackja, with the insect creature dodging at every toss. After that, and wanting to end it quickly, the Fire-Shifter activated his heat vision and released a full blast, reducing the overgrown bug to ashes.

"Humph, serves you right, Bug."

Suddenly, Blazer found himself overcome with drowsiness, and without warning, sleep overcame him as he collapsed to the floor.

* * *

Blazer stirred awake as he opened his eyes to see that he was no longer in the village, but rather an enormous library, and with lots of green everywhere, and mazes of bookshelves that seemed to have no end. Rubbing his head, the Fire-Shifter wondered, 'Is this a dream?' He pinched himself, and sure enough, nothing happened. 'Ok, not a dream. And from the way this place looks, I'd say it's either gigantic, or I've shrunk.'

He was suddenly met with the face of a twenty-foot owl. His reaction was what one would expect.

"AHH!" he shouted backing away, "And just what are you supposed to be?!"

The Owl responded, "I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things." Then he looked at Blazer quizzically, "But you…I have never seen the likes of you. What manner of creature are you, be it spirit or animal?"

"Truth be told, I'm neither," said Blazer plainly, "Now, where am I?"

"You are in _my_ library, for reasons I do not know." The giant owl lowered his head to be at the same eye level as Blazer, "Tell me creature, why are you here?"

Blazer looks around and says, "I wish I knew. One minute I'm fighting a group of giant insects trying to eat a village, and the next thing I know, I'm here in this...library?"

"It would appear that someone or something wishes for you to be here" he pauses, "I shall allow you to stay here on a single condition."

"And that is?"

"The knowledge in my library cannot be used for the purpose of war"

Blazer looked at the owl quizzically, "Well, I don't see any reason why I need information regarding _that_ subject."

"Then you may stay and read whatever you wish" he stands back up and leaves the shifter.

Blazer ponders his situation and comes to the conclusion, _' maybe I should check the history of this place so that I have a better idea of where I'm at.'_ He then shouts, "Hey Tong!"

The owl spirit turned around and answered aggravatedly, "My name is Wan Shi tong, not Tong,"

"Sorry, but do you have a section of the library regarding this world's history?"

"Of course, I have volumes of knowledge regarding every section of the four nations' histories, through every crisis, golden era, and Avatar legacy,"

Blazer gave him a confused expression, "Four nations? Avatar legacy?"

"Forgive me; I had forgotten that you are not a being of this world. Here in this world there are four nations, the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Air nomads, and Water tribes. Each contain benders those who have learned to manipulate the elements. The Avatar can manipulate all four elements and maintains balance between the four nations."

"Huh, sounds like where I'm from, only…different."

Wan Shi Tong looks at Blazer with renewed interest "In your own world, you too can bend the elements? I would like to know more about your world."

"Technically speaking, yes, we can control the elements, but where I'm from, we call it element SHIFTING. As a result, the people of my race call themselves the Shifters."

"And these Shifters... they are at war as well?" his tone growing dangerous.

"Oh, no, no. Sure there are disagreements here and there, but otherwise everybody gets along just fine."

"Reassuring, so your race is not as violent as the humans that inhabit this world?"

That got Blazer's attention, "There are humans here?"

"Yes and they are a violent species seeking to use my library only to destroy. I brought my library here to better mankind, and instead they abuse the knowledge I have gathered to destroy each other in needless war,"

Blazer knew automatically that he should avoid mentioning the fact that he used to _be_ human, as that might get this overgrown owl to attack him, and he was not in the mood for fighting anyone now. So, he rubbed the back of his scaly head and changed the subject, "So, um… anything else you'd like to know about where I'm from?"

"Anything about the shifters culture, technology, and society so that I may add it to my collection of knowledge,"

"Well, first thing you should know is that where I come from, there are five elements, not just four."

"And what is this supposed fifth element?"

"Lightning," Blazer said plainly.

"Lightning? A difficult art to master, but lightning is simply a sub art of fire bending, an Art I myself have memorized,"

"That so? Well, where I'm from, it's a separate skill in and of itself."

"Interesting, so I assume the Avatar of your world has mastery over all five of the elements, correct?"

"Well, actually...we don't have an Avatar."

"Truly? Then how do you maintain balance between the spirit world and physical world?"

"We don't, although the Fire-Shifters, like me, are more spiritually aware than others."

"An interesting change, though perhaps a necessary one. The Avatar has faded from existence over the past one hundred ears and the world has fallen into chaos at the hands of the humans. Perhaps the end of the cycle was necessary."

"Who knows? However, we do have a generally accepted story of our history that speaks of a being that could control all five elements."

"And what would be the name of this being?"

"His name is Amerys, and he's the ancestor of the entire Shifter race."

Wan begins to speak when something catches his attention "Visitors have arrived, I shall return," and disappears quickly, moving fast for a twenty foot owl.

"Well, just when it was getting to the good part." Blazer had a habit for telling stories to those who would listen. Thinking out loud some more, he said, "What should I do? Wait for Tong to come back, or check out what's around me?" Placing his hand to his chin, he scanned the area around him. Then he saw a red book sticking out from the others about six rows up. Slithering up to the book case, he stretched, grabbed, and pulled the book out. Sitting down in front of one of the book cases, he opened the book to see what was inside, only to find that the language was foreign to him. However, each of the pages had a painted picture to go along with the text. Looking at each page, he puzzled what stories they were telling. He was about seven pictures in when a shadow blocked his light. He looked up to see Wan Shi Tong looking down at him.

"I assume you have yet to decipher the language used in our world," he stated bluntly

Blazer shrugged his shoulders and his wings, "You could say that, but really, can you blame me?"

"Perhaps not, I would offer to teach you; however several humans have arrived at my library and wish to learn from it. I must watch them and ensure they do not break their vow of searching for war plans," and once more he disappeared.

Blazer sighed, "And again, it's me, myself and I." Turning his attention back to the book he had in hand, he continued his puzzle of deciphering what the pictures meant. Most of them featured creatures of different shapes and sizes. The creatures themselves looked like combined versions of animals he had heard about back when he was human, before he became a shifter. Though it was not too different from the animals he had encountered on Amerysia, who at times seemed like different creatures rolled together.

About an hour or so later, Blazer felt the whole place begin to shake. He placed the book aside and looked around to see what was happening. Slithering as fast as he could, Blazer made his way through the maze of book shelves to see Wan Shi Tong attacking what appeared to be a group of three, human teenagers.

Two of them, a boy and a girl, looked close to the same age, and looked almost related to each other. They both wore a blue and white outfit and appeared to be almost Native American, but with blue eyes, and appeared to be fourteen or fifteen years in age. The third was a boy who looked to be twelve or thirteen, and was bald headed, wore a red and yellow outfit, held a wooden staff of sorts, and had blue arrow tattoos on his hands and head. The girl appeared to be "bending" some water at Wan Shi Tong while the tattooed boy was throwing wind at him.

Blazer wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to upset the Owl librarian, but he didn't want the kids getting hurt either. Then he saw a man dressed in heavy clothes sitting in the corner reading, apparently oblivious or apathetic to what was going on around him. Looking back he saw the kids seemingly fly out with one of them using air.

Wan Shi Tong let a cry of anger before turning around to see Blazer standing there, wondering what just happened.

"Come on professor Zei!" one of the children cried, a boy with a pony tail in particular.

"I'm not leaving... I can't... I've spent too long trying to find this place... There's not another collection of knowledge like this on Earth... I could spend an eternity in here." the professor stated.

Wan Shi turned to Blazer, "They have misused my trust; they plan to use this knowledge for evil purposes, for that I shall return my library to the spirit world!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…the Spirit World?"

"It is the only place that my knowledge shall be safe from these cretins. Surely you understand the dangers of allowing such vast knowledge to fall into the hands of such violent beings?"

"Yes, knowledge can be dangerous if put into the wrong hands, b-" Wan Shi interrupted him.

"But nothing, more shall suffer if I allow humans access to my knowledge. For the safety of this world I must return to the spirit world. Humanity is not nor shall not be ready for my knowledge."

_'If he does that, then what will happen to me?'_ thought Blazer. Then an idea occurred to him, "Before you do that, I have a question that needs immediate answering."

"What would that be?"

"Is it possible for me to travel back and forth between the Spirit and Physical worlds?"

"If you were a spirit or the Avatar, yes."

"But could a spirit bestow someone who is not either of those the ability to do that?"

"I know of no such occasion taking place."

"But do you think it is possible?"

"Possibly, though unlikely"

"What would be required in order to make it likely?"

"A spiritual connection to the spirit world, and likely the help of several spirits. Now enough questions, I wait no longer!"

Speaking to himself, Blazer said, "Well I did tell him that Fire-Shifters possess spiritual awareness. So perhaps I'm one step ahead on that part."

The library stopped shaking and Blazer looked at the owl spirit asking, "Are we there?"

"Something is wrong; I cannot bring the library back to the spirit world. Something is preventing it."

Wan Shi Tong looks to blazer sudden realization dawning on the owl's face "You!"

"ME?!"

"Your very presence is preventing me from returning to the Spirit World. Something or someone has a different plan for you in this world, so you must leave at once!"

"You mean...out where the humans dwell?"

"Yes at once! I will not let my knowledge be available for others to use!" The library begins to shake

"But how am I supposed to get around out there? I mean, sure I can fly, but I don't if you noticed or not, I kind of stick out in a crowd!"

"That is not of my concern,"

"Humph, some helpful host you are. Alright, I'll leave!" Blazer looked at the hole in the ceiling where the children left, flapped his wings and flew up to it. Using his claws and tail, the Fire-Shifter made his way up to the exit and went through it.

"Farewell shifter, I wish you luck in whatever journey awaits you," and with that the library sank fully into the ground.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," grumbled Blazer, "Now what am I going to do?" he felt the sun's rays hit his backside and started to feel a little rejuvenated. Fire-Shifters do not necessarily lose their powers, but they do become severely weakened when they've gone for so long without sunlight. The strange trip to the library had left Blazer a little a little weakened, but now that he was out in the daylight, he felt much better. Now the question was where to go and what to do. Looking off in the distance, he saw sand that seemed to have no end. However, a black dot of sorts in the far distance caught his eye. A good flap of his wings and Blazer flew off to see what it was.

Blazer flew onward towards the black dot, and as he got closer, it started to become clearer. It turned out to be the same group of kids that Wan Shi Tong had attacked earlier, but with a black haired girl dressed in green with them. Looking at the small group, he felt as though they didn't seem the type to do evil things. As he flew over them, he gained a big surprise when the bald one turned his staff into a glider and flew up towards him. As the kid got closer, Blazer first saw a look of hope, then despair, then anger when he got close enough. The kid then directed his glider at Blazer at an almost ramming speed, but the Shifter managed to dodge it time and said, "Whoa, kid. I know I may not look friendly but I'm not here to fight you."

The kid either didn't hear him or didn't care and the glider collapsed into a long wooden staff as he fell towards Blazer. He twisted around and sent a large blast of air towards the Shifter, knocking him around causing him to plummet to the sand below.

Blazer managed to get up from the sand while trying to stance himself as best he could, given the unstable ground he was. Rubbing his head, Blazer looked up to see that he had made a small crater within the sand, and that the kid and his friends were looking down at him with shock and somewhat anger. Sighing, Blazer says, "I'm not here to fight, but if that's what it takes to get a conversation out of you guys, then it's what I'll have to do!"

* * *

**AN: And with that, we have our first chapter. Hope you liked it. **

**Rapidfyrez helped me get this started, so kudos and thanks to him on that. **

**For my Blazer character, I wanted to do something different with a snake-like character. Instead of making a stereotypical snake villain, I chose to make him the hero. Even went so far as to make him red and black and have fiery abilities, as well as a bit religious. Pretty different, isn't it?**

**Let me know what you think in the reviews, and feel free to leave any suggestions or story ideas in the reviews or PM them to me.**


	2. The Desert

**AN: This is my first attempt at an OC story, and it includes a character that I plan to put on the bookshelves of stores someday when I'm done editing and revising the story. For now, here's my character interacting with Gaang.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA/LOK in any shape or form, and I don't see how I could make a profit off of this anyway. The only thing I own is my OC, whom you're about to meet.**

* * *

Blazer made his statement and was ready to fight, but the tallest girl of the group stepped forward and placed out her hands at both him and her friends in a "halt" manner. She looked at the bald boy who attacked him and said, "Aang, I know that your upset over losing Appa, but you can't just attack people," glances at Blazer, "or creatures like that!" said the girl, referring to the bald headed boy that struck Blazer down.

"HEY!" said Blazer, a little offended at being called a creature, which to him was basically the same as being called an animal.

The young group looked at Blazer in shock as he got his tail under him and raised himself back up "You can speak?" they asked in shocked unison, with the exception of the girl in green.

Blazer rolled his eyes and looked back at them irately, "No, I'm a mute-OF COURSE I CAN SPEAK! Didn't you hear me a minute ago?!"

The girl in the green outfit spoke up, "Uh, can someone explain to the blind girl why were surprised this guy can talk?"

The boy with the ponytail dressed in blue said, "Well it's a... snake man bird hybrid."

"My name is Blazer!" said the Shifter sternly.

"Okay...Blazer…what exactly are you?" the tall girl in blue asked.

Sighing and not wanting to talk about, Blazer decided to be cryptic and said, "Let's just say I'm something you wouldn't understand."

"He's the Avatar," the boy with the ponytail said pointing towards the bald youth, "and we just escaped an ancient library with a killer owl, you'd be surprise by what we'd believe."

"Hmm, alright, answer me this then. Are you open to accepting the possibility that there are other worlds out there with intelligent beings on them, and that any of the said beings could be transported here through bizarre and seemingly unexplainable means?"

"So you're a spirit," Aang stated plainly.

Thinking the situation over, Blazer decided that it might be best to humor the group and see where it went. After all, would they really believe that he's a former human turned into an alien? Probably not. "For now, let's just say I am. Now what are you kids doing out here?"

The girl in blue answered, "We were checking out that library for a possible way to defeat the-"

However, the boy with the ponytail rushed in front of her and places a hand over her mouth, "Katara, what are you doing?! He could be a Fire Nation spy!"

Katara gave the boy a sarcastic look, "Really Sokka? Does he look like a Fire Nation spy?"

Sokka answered back trying to justify himself, "Well, he's red…and scaly…and kind of pointy, so maybe!"

Blazer glared at him, causing the young teen to shiver, "Oh, so just because I'm red, black and pointy that automatically makes me a bad guy?! Is _THAT _what you're saying?!"

"I-uh-no, it's just that red, black and pointy is Fire Nation attire. The Nations kind of have a color coding thing going on," he responded twiddling his thumbs nervously.

"Does the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover' mean anything to you? And besides, this is my natural color. Black absorbs heat, and I get energy from heat, which the sun provides in abundance." he said pointing towards the lit object in the sky.

"So this guy's a red and black plant man?" asked the girl in green.

Blazer looked at her aggravatedly, "Plants are green, and I'm not green, nor am I a plant. Besides, that's not my only source of nutrition. Sometimes, I like to eat burnt meat."

"Uh, I don't even know what plants look like, blind remember?" she asked waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, but regardless, I am _NOT_ a plant!"

"Whatever he is, standing here talking to him won't find us Appa or a way out of this desert," Aang said and turned away. "I'll find him," and he took off on his glider.

Sokka meanwhile pulls out some maps "We have maps to help guide us out of the desert it'll just take a while without Appa."

Blazer interjected him, "And just WHO is this Appa that you're all talking about?"

"Aang's sky bison; big, white fur, arrow on the top of his body; can fly and carries us from place to place."

"Ah, so his pet, in other words, and I suppose that this sky bison has wings?"

"No, just six legs."

Blazer looked at him perplexed, "How can a creature fly and NOT have wings?"

The three shrugged before Sokka answered, "No idea, he just can." Then a green-eyed, monkey-like creature with large pointed ears proceeded to land on Sokka's shoulder. "Oh yeah, and this is Momo, he's a flying lemur."

"Cute," Blazer deadpanned.

"So...you going anywhere?" asked Katara.

"Not really sure. Someone or something pulled me from my world and put me here for some yet-to-be-explained reason. I think I'll stick with you four until I find out if that's not a problem. Is it?"

Sokka opens his mouth, only for Katara to slap her hand over his mouth, "It's fine. My name's Katara and this is my brother Sokka."

Then the self-proclaimed blind girl said, "And I'm Toph, the Earth-bending Master of this group."

Blazer looked at her incredulously, "Master?"

"I learned from badger moles when I was young," she stated in a matter-of-fact way.

"What is a badger mole?" _'I've heard of badgers and moles, but never a creature that was both,'_ he thought.

The group looked at him dumbfounded.

"You've never heard of a badger mole, the creators of Earth Bending?" Toph asked in shock.

"Next you'll tell us you haven't heard of a platypus bear," said Sokka.

_'Again, a combo animal,'_ he thought, "Actually, I haven't."

Sokka's jaw dropped.

"Well, you're interesting," Toph said, closing his jaw.

Katara looked up at the sky, "Guys, we should probably get moving."

Blazer nodded, "She's right. I know I can handle some time in the sun, but I also know that humans can't for too long. So, let's have a look at those maps, shall we?" he asked, looking at Sokka.

"Right!" he said quickly and brought out several maps.

* * *

Seeing that Sokka's examination of the maps might take a while, Blazer looked up and said, "I'll head up and see if there's anything close enough to get to." And with that, he flapped his wings and took off. Once he was high enough, he allowed his wings to rest for a bit and glide in the air. Doing a 360 spin flight in the sky for a few minutes, he saw what appeared to be large stone in the far distance. Coming down a lot more gracefully than when Aang "helped" him earlier, he looked at the group and said, "There's a large rocky area in that direction," he said pointing toward it, "I could get there soon with my wings, but for you guys, it'll probably be about a day's worth of walking."

"We'll have to start rationing our water supply then, Appa's saddle had all our water and food supplies," Katara said taking charge and the group began the march.

An idea occurred to the Fire-Shifter and he said, "You know, I could fly all of you there one at a time. It might save everyone the journey. "

"You sure you could carry all of us? We aren't exactly light," Sokka pointed out.

"Plus we still have Aang out there still looking for Appa," Katara said.

"I did say one at a time, didn't I? And I can go tell him where we're heading real quick if you'd like."

"Well I guess that makes sense, but could you go tell Aang first?" Katara asked.

"Sure thing," With that, the Fire-Shifter flapped his wings and zoomed off into the sky in search of the young Avatar. He didn't have to go far, as he saw Aang gliding close to one of the only clouds in the sky currently. Getting close, Blazer shouted, "Hey-Aang is it?"

"What do you want?" he asked his voice sounding dead and uninterested.

"Just thought I'd let you know that I've found an area to rest at for now, and I'll be taking the others there one at a time."

Aang ignored Blazer and continued on searching for Appa. Sighing Blazer returned to the group to see an odd sight.

"What happened?" he asked in bewilderment.

Sokka held a piece of cactus in front of him "Drink cactus juice, it'll quench you. Nothing's quenchier. It's the quenchiest!"

"Sokka drank juice from a cactus without thinking the idea all the way through," Katara explained.

Suddenly, they all heard a blast of sorts in the distance, and looked to see large cloud forming a mushroom.

'Wow, it looks just like the mushroom clouds that come from bombings, like in those old war clips they would show in history class back on Earth. Only more scaled down it seems,' thought Blazer as he looked at the cloud that Aang more than likely made.

"I-it's a giant mushroom," Sokka said in awe "Maybe it's friendly!"

"Let's keep moving," Katara said and led Toph to Blazer.

"Friendly mushroom! Mushy Giant friend!" he yells while waving his arms back and forth.

Blazer looked at Sokka and shook his head, "Sad." _'I guess you could say that cactus juice is this world's version of alcohol, as it turns someone completely loopy,'_ he thought. Looking at the others, he found Toph to be first in line.

"So I guess you're going to be taking me flying huh?" she asked nervously.

"That won't be a problem will it?" Blazer asked.

"I don't like flying I can't see in the air."

Blazer looked at her perplexedly, "'Can't see?' But I thought you said you were blind?"

"I see with my feet, I can sense vibrations in the ground and it lets me see. It's why I hate this stupid desert, everything is... fuzzy," she explained. "So are you going to take me to solid land or are we going to stand here yapping?" Toph asked, her no nonsense attitude coming back.

Blazer gave a chuckle and said, "Sure Toph." And so he picked her up bridal style and flew off into the sunlit sky. Scanning for a brief moment, Blazer found his destination. Moving his wings into position, he zoomed off towards the area, making Toph feel a tad uncomfortable.

"Give a little warning next time you do that!" she said.

"Sorry!" Blazer responded. In a short time he set her down on the rocky area.

Toph let out a sigh of relief "Real Earth!" she cried and fell on her back making an earth angel.

"While you enjoy yourself, I'm going back for the others." He was about to take off again when Toph grabbed his arm. Blazer turned his gaze to the blind girl to find that she had a "something is bothering me and I think you can answer" expression. "What's up Toph?"

"You're not a spirit, are you?" she stated.

An unsure look passed over his face and he opened his mouth to respond when Toph interrupted him "Don't lie to me, I can tell if you're lying by your heartbeat." she said.

Blazer let out a sigh, "No, I'm not."

"Then what are you really?" she asked "And why lie to us?"

"Technically speaking, I said, 'for now, let's say I am,' so I wasn't exactly lying at the time. And about what I am, it's like I also said before, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

Toph crossed her arms "Try me Serpent Boy."

The Shifter sighed, "Can I retrieve the others first? I don't feel like saying it more than once."

Toph groaned before saying, "Fine." She growled and sat down, creating a rock shelter over her and resting her chin on her hand.

Deciding to have a bit of humor before going, he said, "You know, you're kind of cute when you get like that." Then he quickly flew off to the others while hearing Toph scream angrily behind him.

Blazer quickly returned to the two remaining ones and saw Sokka lying on the floor with Momo gazing at the quickly approaching Night sky.

He looked to Katara, "You going to be okay here by yourself?" he asked.

She nodded "I'll be fine," she replied, "Just make sure Sokka doesn't hurt himself."

"Will do," he nodded and picked up the intoxicated young warrior and the big-eared lemur in each of his arms and flew back to where he had left Toph, where he found her still in her own make-shift fortress. "Still mad at me?" he asked innocently.

Toph just growled at him "Who set Toph on fire?" Sokka asked in a comedic fashion.

"I'll be back," Blazer said and took off to get Katara, leaving Toph to look after Sokka.

The sun was almost below the horizon when he found her gazing up at the moon. Landing down, he asked her, "You still worried about Aang?"

"He's been gone for too long. What if he got hurt?" she admitted.

At that moment there was a gust of wind as Aang landed by the two.

_'Speak of the devil,'_ "I take it you didn't have much luck?"

Aang was silent and looked in the general direction of the stony island, "I take it that's where the others are?" he asked his voice still emotionally dead

"Yes, I was just about to bring Katara there when-" he started, only for Aang to interrupt him.

"I'll see you there," he muttered and took off.

Blazer looked to Katara who had an apologetic look on her face "Is he always that charming?" he asked.

"He's not normally like that but Appa was all Aang had left of his old life…" she said.

"His…old life?" asked the Shifter.

"Aang may not look it but he's actually 112 years old," Katara explained "he and Appa got lost in a storm one-hundred years ago and Aang managed to save them by freezing him and Appa in an iceberg,"

"Ah, and I take it that since he's been on ice for so long, everyone he knew is...gone?"

She nodded, "He disappeared before the Fire Nation began the one-hundred year war. The first thing they did was wipe out the air nomads, where Aang was born" Katara explained.

"That's horrible! No wonder your brother was suspicious of me earlier."

"The Fire Nation has been at war with the rest of the world for one hundred years and they've been winning. That's why we needed the information from Wan Shi's library, to find a way to end it," she explained.

"But I'm guessing he didn't see things your way."

"No, he attacked us when Sokka discovered a way to defeat the fire nation; an eclipse that will take their powers away for a few minutes, allowing a full scaled assault on the fire nation capital."

"It sounds a little ambitious for a group of four kids."

"That's why we're heading to Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom capital, to get the Earth King's support for it. Since Aang is the avatar he'll let him in to at least explain the plan," Katara said.

"Good to see you've thought this through. But I think we better get back to the others now."

Katara nodded and let Blazer take her to the stone island where the others Aang included where waiting.

Sokka sat on the ground rubbing his head as the two landed "I think that cactus juice is starting to wear off," he moaned.

"Good maybe next time you'll think before you drink," Katara scolded.

Toph looked at Blazer, or at least in his direction, "Alright Blazer, everyones here, so spill!" she stated.

With a heavy sigh, Blazer got situated against one of the larger rocks. Using his heat vision, he created a small fire, surprising everyone present. "Yes, I can do that. And what Toph means is that she figured out that I'm not a spirit."

"If you're not a spirit then what are you?" Sokka demanded, his loopiness having faded.

"The first thing you all have to understand is that I wasn't lying when I said I was from another world, just not the one you were thinking of."

"So you're not from the spirit world…" Katara repeated.

"Then where are you from!?" Sokka demanded.

"The place that I'm from is similar to your world in many ways, but very different in others." He then proceeded to explain his backstory and abilities to the group, who all kept giving him looks of disbelief and confusion here and there.

Once it was over, Toph said, "He's telling the truth."

"Toph, there's no way he's telling the truth," Katara responded.

"I can tell when people lie, Katara, and he's not lying," Toph said in her defense.

Giving a thankful gesture, Blazer said, "Thank you, Ms. Lie Detector."

"Eh, don't mention it Snake Boy," she said slapping him on the back. Hard!

Blazer rubbed his back after her slap and Aang spoke, "It doesn't really matter if you're a spirit or not, Appa is still gone!"

Blazer gave the young Avatar a stern look, "And getting angry about his absence isn't going to bring your pet back any time sooner."

Aang turned to him angrily and the others backed off, "Appa's not just a pet, he's a friend! He's been with us through it all!"

Maintaining his position, Blazer crossed his arms and kept a stern face at the young Airbender, "That doesn't change the fact that sitting down and wallowing in self-pity will change whether or not he's here."

Aang looked like he was about to say something when the whole island began to shake.

Then, they heard some buzzing and screeching noises as well. "Does anybody have any idea what that was?" asked Blazer.

"Not a clue but it can't be good!" Sokka yelled.

Suddenly, Blazer and the kids found themselves surrounded by dozens upon dozens of buzzard/wasp hybrids, and they all looked extremely unhappy to see the heroes.

"Guys, I know we need rest and all, but I feel that we may need to hold up on that for a bit."

Blazer stared at the bug birds and readied himself to fight, the others doing the same. Toph used her Earth Bending to make large rocks hit the fliers while Katara used what was left of the water, and Sokka fought with his boomerang while Aang used his Air Bending to throw large gusts of wind at them. Blazer had his own weapon, besides fire, to use against the creatures attacking them. Taking a deep breath, Blazer shot beams of his heat vision out at them, damaging the creatures with burns or slicing them apart. This lasted for about half a minute before Blazer's eyes began to hurt. He stopped and let out a groan of pain, which Toph noticed.

"You alright Blazer?" asked the Blind Bandit.

"My heat vision, I can't seem to use it for long, or else my eyes begin to hurt."

Toph launched a large rock at one of the buzzards "Well, if you got any other things you could do that would help, we'd appreciate it!"

"I still have my fire." With that, he extended his arms and shot out his flames at the buzzard wasps. However, it seemed that the fire wasn't flying up towards them, and instead dropped to the ground, "What's going on here?!"

"Uh, a little help here?!" Katara asked as her water supply began to dwindle.

"I'm trying girl, keep your shirt on!" he yelled back.

"What!?" she demanded "What does that even mean!?"

"It means be patient and let me work! That's what!"

Katara, unsure of how to respond just continued water bending while Sokka flailed his club around... in the wrong direction.

"Sokka, they're over here!" Katara called.

"I knew that!" he said quickly.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to Blazer, and he shouted, "Everybody get down and around me! I'm about to try something crazy, but it just might work!"

"You heard him, get down!" Sokka screamed and they all ducked, Toph shielding herself with an earth shield.

Blazer then made the fire circle around the kids and himself, after which, he stretched his hands out in front of him before rotating his body in a clockwise motion, picking up speed as he did so with the fire following his movements. Before long, Blazer had created a small, fiery tornado that blocked out the buzzard wasps. The Fire-Shifter managed to keep it up for a few minutes before his body became tired and had to stop. Once he did, the fire died down to where the ground had a hot and burnt circle around them, and it also revealed all the buzzard wasps to be on the ground or flying away while dealing with being burnt at the same time.

"Well, what do you know? That actually did work!'

"Wait, you didn't even know if that would work!?" Sokka demanded.

"I did say it was crazy and that it _might_ work didn't I?"

Sokka raises an arm to argue further but decides against it, letting his arm droop.

"Besides, something's off with my shifting abilities. I don't know, but the fire isn't exactly working the way I want it to."

"So, you not only risked using a dangerous move, but a fire based move," Aang said bluntly.

"Duh, I'm a FIRE-Shifter! That's my element!"

Aang just glares at him before looking away.

"And besides, I had to try and end the problem quickly. However, like I said, something's off."

Aang turned back to him and yelled, "Well it's your fault we had to deal with this problem in the first place!"

Taken aback, Blazer responded, "My fault?!"

"Yeah if you hadn't taken us to this island in the first place, we never would have been attacked!" he yelled.

"How was I supposed to know these things would be here?!" Blazer countered, "I didn't exactly see a sign saying 'beware that this is buzzard wasp territory'! Did you?! I sure didn't!"

"Enough!" Katara ordered before the argument could continue, "Aang I know you're upset but taking it out on us won't solve anything,"

Blazer sighed, "She's right. I think we should get some rest now while the night's still young."

"Sounds good to me!" Toph exclaimed and fell flat on her back forming a rock shelter over her.

Aang glared one more time at Blazer before storming off away from the group. The Fire-Shifter gave another sigh before saying, "I swear that boy needs to straighten out before he hurts someone."

"Just give him time, he lost a lot today," Katara said.

"I understand. Good night everybody," and with that, the Fire-Shifter lied down on his back, coiled his tail around him to where he could use it as a pillow, folded his wings over himself, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Blazer found himself awakened by the touch of the sun's rays, which soon rejuvenated him with the startup energy he needed. The Fire-Shifter stretched his wings and arms before raising himself up. Looking skywards, he noticed that it was early in the morning, with the sun barely over the horizon, and the sky looking purplish. Deciding to let the others sleep a bit, he took off for a morning flight and scanned the area for anything interesting.

Unfortunately, he found it. There was a group traveling in the direction of his new companions, and they didn't look friendly. Flying back down, Blazer woke Toph first by tapping her rock shelter a few times before she finally and unhappily awoke.

"What!?" She growled angrily.

"We got company," Blazer warned.

Toph growled and forced her shelter back into the ground "EVERYONE UP, WE GOT INCOMING!" She announced loudly to... everyone.

The kids were all up because of Toph's announcement, but the group that was traveling towards them had arrived just in time to hear it as well.

"Nice pipes, Toph," said Blazer sarcastically. And then he turned to see the opposite Group was staring at him and with a sense of frightened awe in their gazes as well.

"W-what is that!?" one of them demanded.

"Nothing you want to mess with, that's what!" yelled Blazer, "Now what is your purpose here?!"

"W-We found o-one of our v-vessels destroyed in the d-desert," said the oldest of the Sand Benders.

"A-And we think t-they are responsible!" yelled the teenager of the group, pointing towards the kids.

"And what proof do you have that they did it?" asked Blazer, still causing the Sand Benders shiver in his presence.

"I...uh," the teen stuttered.

"Wait, I know that voice!" Toph said suddenly.

The Fire-Shifter turned to the blind girl, "You do?"

"He's the one that took Appa!" she accused.

Aang turned to the teen with a furious look on his face "You took Appa!?"

The elder looked to his son "What did you do?" he demanded.

"I-I thought it was a wild animal!" he protested.

"No you didn't you said to muzzle him and to take the supplies!" Toph argued.

"You muzzled Appa!" Aang yelled.

Blazer looked to the teen as well, and lit up his eyes, frightening the young man even further before saying in an eerily calm voice, "I think you'd better come clean before you find yourself in total pain. Either from me, or the Avatar here," he said pointing towards the furious Aang.

"I-if I'd known it belonged to the Avatar I never would have stolen it!" he yelled backing away.

"What have you done with Appa!?" Aang screamed his voice echoing.

"I-I sold him!" he said.

Aang snarled in anger and sent a wave of Air and sand towards one of the boats, shattering it.

Trying to get more information out of the teenager before Aang destroyed the place, Blazer yelled, "Where did you sell him?!"

Either the teen didn't hear him or he was too petrified to answer, and Aang glared at him.

White light emanated from his eyes and tatoo as he took a battle stance with his staff "WHERE DID YOU SEND APPA!?" he demanded, his voice sounding like a chorus of voices young and old.

"If I were you, I'd answer him!" yelled Blazer.

"I-I sold him to a trader heading to Ba Sing Se!" he cried.

This made Aang even angrier, if that was possible.

Blazer came between them and looked down on the young man, "You honestly didn't suspect that a flying bison with a large arrow on its head would belong to the Avatar, who is a well-known Airbender?!"

The sand bender teen nodded his head so much that he almost looked like he'd shake it off.

Blazer felt a the wind building up behind him, and turned around to see Aang in the air with his eyes and tattoo glowing white, and the wind forming a bubble of sorts around him. As the intensity of the wind grew, it soon became hard for everyone to remain on their feet. A crash noise was heard above and showed debris from the sand benders' boats flying around. The Fire-Shifter knew that if the young Avatar didn't calm down soon, he'd create a sandstorm with enough force to cause some real damage.

Blazer slithered towards Aang, but soon stopped as he felt a hand touch his belly. He looked down to see Katara have a sad look and shake her head at him and say, "I'll deal with this."

Blazer nodded saying, "I hope you know what you're doing."

Katara walked towards the beyond furious Airbender, who was beginning to lift even higher into the air. Before he got too far, Katara reached up and grabbed his arm, making him look down at her, but did not otherwise react. She took hold of his other arm and gently pulled him down to the ground, and placed his head on her chest. If one saw past the glowing of his eyes and arrow tattoo, they would see the young Avatar releasing tears, which flowed as if he'd been holding them back for a long time.

The Sandstorm died down, and Blazer and the others moved closer to see Katara still holding Aang, who had his eyes closed and looked almost asleep, but with tears still flowing out the sides for his long gone friend.

* * *

**AN: Well, that's the second chapter, and feel free to let me know what you think in the reviews. And also, don't hold back with suggestions in the reviews, or PM me with them.**

**The next chapter deals with both the Serpent's Pass and The Drill. And I think I'll have plenty of fun with Blazer VS Azula.**


	3. The Serpent's Pass

**Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA/LOK, and Blazer belongs to me. Enjoy!**

* * *

After Aang calmed down, he, Blazer and the rest of their group were taken out of the desert by the sand benders, who offered to do it as compensation for stealing Aang's bison. Once back in town, the sand benders helped Blazer manage to disguise himself by putting a large, white cloak and a big, red, bag-like hat on him with a cloth covering the lower half of his face. Once that was taken care of, Blazer and the kids travelled onward.

* * *

After they were out of town and all moving on foot, or in Blazer's case on tail, on the road, Toph tugged at the Shifter's cloak and said, "Blazer?"

"Yes, Toph?" answered Blazer, flicking his tail under the cloak.

"Why did you have trouble last night using your flames?"

He thought for a moment before licking his fangs and saying, "To be honest, I don't really know. The closest thing I can think of is that whatever brought me here not only shrunk me, but also took away some of my control on my shifting abilities."

"You seemed to do well with that burnado last night."

He chuckled at her word usage, "burnado?"

"What else would you call fire spinning around like that?"

Again he laughed at her words, "True, but I wasn't even sure if that would work then."

"I'm still mad about that!" interjected Sokka with a whine.

"I did warn you, didn't?" shrugged Blazer.

Sokka only huffed and kept walking until they reached a waterfall with a large pool of water at its base.

Deciding to take a break, the Shifter, four humans and lemur went about doing various things. Sokka sat down and looked at the maps he acquired from Wan Shi Tong's library whilst sitting on a rock, Momo chased around some bugs and making noises as he did so, Toph moved her feet back and forth in the water pool whereas Katara and Aang swam around in it, and Blazer, still wearing his disguise, sat on the cliff about five feet from where the water fell, overlooking the scene below. Aang kept swimming and at one point made a large ice cube around his body, save for his head, and floated to the surface.

Katara got to the opposite side of the waterfall from Blazer and shouted excitedly, "Waterbending Bomb!" before jumping off in a cannonball style. The resulting splash was so high that Aang was thrown out of the water and his landing broke his cube. Toph, Sokka and Momo were soaked, with Sokka trying but failing to keep the map from getting wet. Blazer was unaffected by the splash due to how high up he was on the precipice. He watched the others as he scraped his claws into the dirt.

As soon as Katara got out of the water, Sokka looked to her and said sarcastically, "Sure, five thousand year-old maps from the spirit library. Just splash some water on 'em."

"YOU PROBABLY SHOULD'VE THOUGHT OF THAT _BEFORE_ YOU SAT SO CLOSE TO THE WATER!" shouted Blazer from atop the cliff.

"He's got you there!" agreed Toph, earning a glare from the young Water Tribe warrior.

"Sorry," said Katara to her brother as she wrung her hair dry; then she bended the water out of the map.

Getting off the ground, Aang walked with the others to Sokka and said, "So, did you figure out what route we're going to take?"

Hearing this, Blazer took off his cloak and flew down to the rest of the group before putting it back on and leaning in to listen as well.

Sokka then said, "Okay, we just got out of the desert, so we must be around here," he pointed to a spot on the bottom portion of the map, "And we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here," he then touched a large circle on the map, "It looks like the only passage connecting the south to the north is this sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass," he said, circling a small point with his finger.

"You sure that's the best way to go?" asked Toph.

"I would agree with Toph on this," said Blazer as his tail flickered with unease, "How can you be certain that way is right?"

Snorting at the two, Sokka responded "It's the _only_ way. I mean, it's not like we have Appa to fly us there."

This earned him a glare from Katara, who whispered, "Shush up about Appa. Can't you at least try to be sensitive?"

Everyone looked in Aang's direction, or in Toph's case turned their head in his direction, and the young Avatar closed his eyes and calmly said, "Katara, it's okay," then opening his eyes said, "I know I was upset about losing Appa before," then he looked back at the others again, "but I just want to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se," looking away again he continued, "and telling the Earth King about the solar eclipse."

This surprised everyone, and Katara was the first to speak, "Oh...well, okay. I'm…glad you're doing better."

"You seem to have gotten over that pretty fast…" muttered Blazer under his breath. _'He's probably trying to avoid his feelings, which of course, as history has shown again and again, never works.'_

Picking up the map and putting it away, Sokka said, "Then to Ba Sing Se we go. No more distractions."

Suddenly, the six of them found that they had company when a man yelled from behind, "Hello there, fellow refugees!"

The group turned around to find a man and two women in Earth Kingdom garb waving to them. One of the women had an enlarged stomach, indicating she was pregnant. Blazer and the kids went up to them, though the Fire-Shifter had a hard time trying make sure that his tail didn't leave any suspicious imprint in the dirt. After all, he knew the three strangers would ask questions if they saw that he had a slithering trail behind him instead of foot prints.

After brief introductions, Aang said, "So, you guys are headed to Ba Sing Se, too?"

The man, named Tahn, responded saying, "Sure are." Then he rubbed the belly of the pregnant woman saying, "We're trying to get there before my wife, Ying, has her baby."

"Great! We can travel through the Serpent's Pass together," said Katara excitedly.

Then the three refugees looked at the group in shock before Ying said, "The Serpent's Pass? Only the truly desperate take that deadly route!"

Toph and Blazer looked at Sokka, with the former saying, "Deadly route." She then punched the Water Tribe warrior in the arm, nearly knocking him to the ground," Great pick, Sokka!" she said with a big mock grin.

"_Really_ thought that one through, didn't you?" added the Fire-shifter under his face cloth.

Rubbing his arm, Sokka ignored the blind girl's and Shifter's comments and looked to the refugees saying, "Well, we are desperate."

With one arm around his wife, and the other extended, Tahn said, "You should come with us to Full Moon Bay. Ferries take refugees across the lake. It's the fastest way to Ba Sing Se."

"And it's hidden," added Ying, "so the Fire Nation can't find it."

Katara put her hand to her chin and looked at the couple saying, "Hmm ... peaceful ferry ride," then she looked to her brother, "or deadly pass?"

Sokka gave his friends and sister an annoyed, yet comedic look.

"Not much of a choice is it?" added Blazer.

"Nope!" said Toph.

Sokka narrowed his eyes at the two of them.

Blazer looked to the refugees and said, "Can you lead us there?"

"Of course," said Tahn, "This way," and with his wife and the other woman beside him, the man lead Blazer and the kids across a few hills before entering a cave.

* * *

Once they reached what appeared to be a dead end in the cave, it opened up via Earth Bending on the other side to reveal a large cavern with crowds of people waiting in line to get on a ferry.

Looking at them all, Blazer thought to himself, _'There are so many…but how? This is clearly not Earth, yet there're humans on this world…why?'_

Katara was the first to speak up on it, "I can't believe how many people's lives have been uprooted by the Fire Nation."

The man held onto his wife and said, "We're all looking for a better life, safe behind the walls of Ba Sing Se."

They got in line, and as they got further, Blazer looked through the sight section of his disguise at all the people that surrounded them. He sighed and inwardly thought to himself, '_Could the Fire Nation really have caused all this? I'm fire-based, and yet the Fire-Shifters aren't really that bad back home. I've heard this story many times before where the fire guys are the villains, but why is that?'_

He was drawn from his thoughts as he heard the sound of an angry old woman shouting from the ticket booth, "I told you already...no vegetables on the ferry! One cabbage slug could destroy the entire ecosystem of Ba Sing Se! Security!"

The man she was yelling at turned to see his cart of cabbages get crushed and eaten by what appeared to be a bear with a teethed, bill mouth and beaver tail wearing a small green jacket and hat. Toph nudged to Blazer whispering, "That's a platypus bear."

"I see," he whispered back licking his fangs and blinking a few times.

The former owner of the cabbages got their attention when he screamed, "AHHH, my cabbages!" He grabbed a hold of his face as he got to his knees in shock of seeing that happen. The security guards proceeded to carry him off. Everyone looked at him with a sense of both pity and fear for what they might be in for.

"Next!" yelled the ticket lady.

Aang nervously walked up to the booth and said, "Um, five tickets for the ferry to Ba Sing Se, please?"

"Passports?" replied the ticket lady.

"Uh ... no one told us we had to have passports."

Sokka stepped up to support Aang and pointed to him saying, "Don't you know who this is? He's the Avatar!"

The lady then responded dismissively, "Ah, I see fifty Avatars a day and, by the way, not a very impressive costume." She then pointed to several impostors. Then she noticed Momo on Aang's shoulder, "Besides, no animals allowed. Do I need to call security?"

Aang and Momo looked fearfully at the platypus bear from earlier, still munching on the cabbage. Then they looked back at the ticket lady, "That won't be necessary," he said nervously as he backed away.

"Next!" shouted the woman.

Toph walked past her friends saying, "I'll take care of this." Presenting her passport, she said to the ticket lady, "My name is Toph Beifong, and I'll need five tickets."

Upon further inspection, the ticket lady seemed actually happy and said, "Ah, the golden seal of the flying boar!" After which, she bowed her head to Toph saying, "It is my pleasure to help anyone of the Beifong family."

Facing away from her, Toph replied, "It _is_ your pleasure. As you can see, I am blind and these three imbeciles are my valets," she said gesturing to Aang, Katara and Sokka, who stood there smiling and looking goofy whilst holding onto each other. Then she gestured to the disguised Blazer saying, "And _he_ is my personal bodyguard."

'_I'm her bodyguard now? Guess it would make sense, given my height and whatnot. Still, that seemed a little odd.'_ thought Blazer as he gave Toph a slightly confused look through his disguise.

Still a bit unsure, the ticket lady said, "But, the animal –"

"Is my seeing-eye lemur," interjected Toph as Momo got situated on her shoulder.

Looking at Toph's passport again, the ticket lady said with uncertainty, "Well, normally it's only one ticket per passport, but this document is so official...I guess it's worth five tickets." Then she stamped an approval seal on the tickets.

Toph reached up and grabbed the tickets saying, "Thank you very much."

As the group walked away, or in Blazer's case slithered under his disguise, Sokka said excitedly, "All right, we scammed that lady good!"

Looking back at the Water Tribe teenager, Blazer gave a sigh, and then flickered his tail under his cloak and said, "Sokka, word of advice. When you're excited about doing something like what we just did, wait until AFTER we're out of earshot!"

Sokka looked like he was about to respond when he was pulled back a teenaged girl in a security guard outfit.

She glared at Sokka and said, "Tickets and passports please."

Confused, Sokka asked, "Is there a problem?"

The girl answered with, "Yeah, I got a problem with you! I've seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious and let me guess, you're traveling with the Avatar."

This got everyone's attention, and Aang, Katara, Blazer and Toph got behind Sokka as he said, "Do I know you?"

"Either you do, or she reads people very well," said Blazer, giving his own thoughts on the situation.

The girl looked even angrier and grabbed his shirt saying, "You mean you don't remember? Maybe you'll remember this!" and she proceeded to kiss Sokka on the cheek.

Sokka realized who he was speaking to and exclaimed, "Suki!" before embracing her with a hug.

Backing away from the hug, Suki smiled saying, "Sokka, it's good to see you!"

"Uh, perhaps someone could fill me in?" interjected Blazer, getting their attention.

"Yeah, I haven't met her either," added Toph to Blazer's inquiry.

* * *

Aang, Katara, Sokka and Suki told them about their trip to the home of the Kyoshi Warriors as they all reconvene at a different and more isolated section of the ferry station.

Katara then looked to Suki and said, "You look so different without your makeup. And the new outfit."

"That crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them," explained Suki. Then she looked to Sokka and said, "And look at you, sleeveless guy. Been working out?"

Sokka then rolled his arm and stretch saying, "Ah, I'll grab a tree branch and do a few chin touches every now and then. Nothing major." This earned him an unimpressed look from Katara, and an eye roll from Blazer.

Aang cut in and said, "Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?"

"Yeah, after you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since." Then Momo jumped up next to her, "Hi, Momo! Good to see you too!" she said as she scratched his head near his ear, "So why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry? Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?"

Everyone, except Blazer, lowered their heads and gave sad looks. The Fire-Shifter didn't mostly because he didn't have any experience with Appa or know anything about the flying bison beyond what the kids had told him. However, he could tell how special the creature was to the group, and so he tried to be sensitive about the subject.

Katara was the first to speak up about it, "Appa is missing. We hope to find him in Ba Sing Se." Aang looked away from them, still sad about his animal companion being gone.

"I'm so sorry to hear that." said Suki, and then she looked to Aang, "Are you doing okay?"

Aang looked at them all before getting a little angry and saying, "I'm doing fine. Would everybody stop worrying about me?"

"Hey!" spoke Blazer, "Don't snap at her! She's just showing that she cares!"

Looking away guiltily, Aang said, "You're right. I'm sorry."

Blazer was about to say something before Tahn, Ying, and Tahn's sister came up to them. "Avatar Aang, you have to help us! Someone took all of our belongings; our passports, our tickets, everything's gone!" said Ying.

"I'll talk to the lady for you," said Aang with determination.

* * *

With that, Aang, Blazer, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki and the three refugees all made their way to the desk of the ticket lady. However, when they explained the situation to her, they were met without sympathy.

"No passports, no tickets!" and she then proceeded to stamp a "denied" stamp on Aang's forehead.

Though Aang was persistent in trying to convince her, "But she's pregnant and all of her stuff was stolen! You have to make an exception!"

However, the ticket lady stood her ground in the argument, "No exceptions! If I just gave away tickets willy-nilly to anyone, there would be no more order! You know what that means, no more civilization!"

Still trying, Aang said, "What if we gave them our tickets?"

"No!"

"But..."

"Next!" she shouted with spit shooting everywhere.

"Hey!" said Blazer, deciding to have a few words with the stubborn woman himself, "Have a heart and give them tickets you avaricious old skeleton!"

The ticket lady clenched the sides of her booth in anger at his words while the rest of the group, except Blazer, backed away nervously.

"What did you say to me?!"

"You heard me!" said the Shifter, undeterred by the lady's temper.

"Blazer-" started Katara, only for the Shifter to continue.

"You, Lady, are responsible for helping refugees get into Ba Sing Se, and by denying them tickets for something as trivial as a passport, you are essentially NOT GETTING YOUR JOB DONE!"

"My job is to ensure the rules are followed, Sir! And rules have to be followed!"

"Blazer-" tried Sokka, only to fail like Katara did.

"Even if the rules are ineffective and _stupid_?!" he yelled back.

"THE RULES ARE NOT STUPID! THEY ARE THE ONLY THINGs THAT MATTER!"

Leaning in face-to-face with the ticket lady, Blazer said threateningly, "You know I'm not afraid to hit an old lady, though I'm not sure if 'lady' is the right word to use here!"

Before the argument could continue any further, Toph tugged at Blazer's cloak and said, "She's not worth it."

Sighing, the Shifter said, "You're right." Then he looked back at the ticket lady, who was smiling smugly. Blazer made his eyes glow bright red for a second before saying, "Pray we do not meet again." Then he turned away and left with the others, leaving the ticket lady baffled at what she just saw.

With the group and the refugees together, Aang looked at the latter and said, "Don't worry; you'll get to the city safely. I'll lead you through the Serpent's Pass."

* * *

After some discussion, everyone agreed and gave up their tickets to help Tahn, Ying, and Tahn's sister get through the pass to Ba Sing Se.

As they made their way back to the entrance, Sokka decided to whine and said, "I can't believe we gave up our tickets and now we're going through the Serpent's Pass."

Toph butted in and said, "I can't believe you're still complaining about it."

"Isn't this what you wanted in the first place?" added Blazer.

Suki ran up to the group wearing makeup and Kyoshi warrior attire saying, "I'm coming too!"

Sokka, however, was hesitant about that, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Suki was surprised by this, "Sokka, I thought you'd want me to come."

"I do, it's just–"

"Just what?"

"Nothing, I'm glad you're coming."

* * *

Once they were outside the hideaway for Full Moon Bay, they all made their way to the entrance gateway for the Serpent's Pass.

Sokka made his observations known to everyone, "This is the Serpent's Pass? I thought it would be a little more wind-y, you know, like a serpent. Huh, I guess they misnamed it."

"Names can refer to more than one aspect Sokka," pointed out Blazer, "For all we know, there might be an actual big serpent out here, or more."

Ying read the sign posted on the gate and said, "Look at this writing! How awful!"

Toph and Blazer both asked in unison, "What does it say?"

Katara looked at it and answered, "It says, 'abandon hope'."

Ying fretted saying, "How can we abandon hope?" then she put her head on Tahn's shoulder and continued, "It's all we have!"

Aang stood on the edge saying to everyone, "I don't know. The monks used to say that hope was just a distraction, so maybe we do need to abandon it."

Katara was the first to question him, "What are you talking about?"

The young Avatar answered as he began to walk through the pass gate, "Hope is not going to get us into Ba Sing Se and it's not going to help find Appa. We need to focus on what we're doing right now and that's getting across this path."

Looking a little depressed at his words, Katara responded, "Okay, if you say so."

And so they began to make way into the pass, but among them, Blazer seemed a little uneasy, which Toph noticed when his tail flickered.

"What's with you, Snake Boy?"

"Something about the way Aang's acting. It just…bothers me how he can just go from being angry about his pet gone to being…so…apathetic about things."

"Yeah, Twinkle Toes is a little too full of hot air now."

Blazer gave a chuckle at her words, "Hot air?"

"Yeah, he's an Air Bender, and he's so heated up lately."

The two gave a few more laughs between them as they and the rest of the group got further within the pass.

* * *

As they moved alongside one of the big hills of the pass, Suki said, "The Fire Nation controls the western lake. Rumor has it they're working on something big on the other side of it and don't want anyone to find out what it is."

As they walked, a Fire Nation ship passed by them without noticing them, and then a part of the rock gave out, causing Tahn to fall. Toph stopped him from falling by earth bending a rock that then lifted him back up.

Tahn was examined by his wife and sister before saying, "I'm okay!"

Then the rock fell into the water, causing a big splash, which the Fire Nation ship noticed. Afterwards, It fired at them, tossing large lit up rocks at them.

Sokka shouted, "They've spotted us! Let's go, let's go!"

Aang got on his glider and deflected the fireball back. Another fireball hit the mountain, causing several pieces of rock over Suki to fall. Sokka pushed her out of the way, but would've been crushed himself had Toph not bent out a part of the mountain to keep the rocks from falling on him.

However, Sokka's mind was somewhere else as he turned to Suki and said, "Suki, are you okay?" Helping her get up, he continued, "You have to be more careful! Come on!" And the two ran, leaving Toph and Blazer standing there for a minute.

Toph, feeling unappreciated, said, "'Thanks for saving my life, Toph.' Hey, no problem, Sokka."

As the two made their way back to the others, Blazer said to the Blind Bandit, "I thought it was impressive."

* * *

Hours later, at sunset, the travelers set up their camp. Tahn and Ying set themselves up, Sokka was griping with Suki about something, Aang was staring off a cliff whilst Katara tried to talk to him, and Blazer sat in corner all to himself as he observed everything. Suddenly he found Toph situating herself next to him.

"Hi Toph."

"How's it goin' Snake Boy?"

"Just fine, but I would prefer you didn't call me that while they are around," he said, referring to Tahn and Ying who were nearby.

"Your point?"

"I mean that if they found out what I am, it might freak them out. I know how humans react to what they don't understand, especially if it doesn't look human."

"Ah don't worry about them! And besides, if anybody hurts you, I'll Earth-Bend a boulder at them!"

Blazer gave a small smile under his face cloth at the twelve-year-old girl, "Thanks Toph."

"Don't mention it!" she said before slapping him hard on the back again.

"You really love to hit stuff hard, don't you?" he asked, rubbing where she slapped him.

"It's how I show affection," she stated plainly.

Clearing his throat, Blazer said, "So, if you don't mind my asking, why're you traveling with Aang?"

"Aang needs an Earth-Bending teacher. What else?" she stated bluntly.

"Yes, but what caused you to join the group in the first place?"

"Well…" she thought for a minute, "I suppose it's just that me and my parents didn't see eye to eye."

"No pun intended?" chuckled the Shifter.

"Nope!"

"So what's wrong with your folks?"

"They aren't exactly understanding."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean whenever they looked at me, all they could see was some helpless little blind girl that always needs pampering and aid!" she said irritably.

"Really?" asked Blazer, his claws digging further into the dirt as he listened.

"Really!" stated Toph as she crossed her arms.

"But you seem like one of the most capable kids I've ever met."

Toph was taken aback by this, and then she turned to Blazer and smiled before saying, "Thanks."

"Think nothing of it. So you joined with Aang and company not only because he needed an Earth-Bending teacher, but also to put some space between you and your parents?"

"Pretty much," she said shrugging.

"What happened to make them view you that way?"

"The thing is, I was born blind, and when I was little, I got lost underground and came into contact with the badger moles. By learning from them, I was able to Earth-Bend not only as a way to fight, but also as an extension of my own senses."

"That makes sense. I've heard tales of disabled people overcoming their problems through various means. Did you tell your parents when that happened?"

She looked away for a moment before saying disappointedly, "No, because I knew that they would always see me as the helpless blind girl, so I kept it quiet."

"But I take it you found some way to practice without telling them?" he said as he licked his fangs.

The twelve-year-old nodded, "You bet I did! I entered the Earth Rumble tournaments to compete against other Earth Benders. Even called myself the Blind Bandit-just to rub the fact that they got beaten by a blind girl in further!"

Blazer gave a chuckle at her comment, "Bet that left them feeling sore."

"Yep, and for a while, that's how things were. The blind daughter of a noble family by day-"

"-and the Blind Bandit by night."

"Mm-hmm! Until Aang, Katara and Sokka came in and found me out. After a few mishaps here and there, I revealed who I was to my parents, and hoped that learning and seeing what I could do would change how they saw me."

"But I take it that things didn't go the way you hoped."

"Nope, they di0dn't! They reacted just like I knew they would and jumped to conclusions. Before I knew it, my parents were going to strip me of what little freedom I had. I knew that if I went with Aang and the others, I'd get everything I'd ever wanted."

"Independence and real friends?"

Sighing, Toph said, "Yeah…" then she lifted her head and continued excitedly, "So, I did what I had to. I left without my parents noticing and took off with Aang, Katara and Sokka in the middle of the night!"

"Did you leave a note saying what you did?"

"A note?"

"A small piece of paper that you write on."

"Uh, NO! I'm blind, remember?" she said bluntly.

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know how to read, let alone write," he said sheepishly. Clearing his throat, he asked, "So you just left without giving your parents any indication as to what you were doing?"

"Yeah. Though, to be honest, I sometimes wonder if I should have."

"I hate to say it Toph, but you probably should. You said that your parents would jump to conclusions, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, if you left without saying anything, then they probably think that someone kidnapped you, and they might've sent someone to go after you."

An expression of realization dawned upon Toph's face as she thought about what the Fire-Shifter said, "…You might be right."

"Did you tell any of this the others?"

"Actually, no. I told them that my parents understood and let me go."

"You lied," said Blazer plainly.

"Yep!"

"You plan on telling them?"

"Nope!"

"I think you should."

"Why?"

"Well, if your parents did send someone after you, then there's a chance that you'll run into them at some point down the road. Wouldn't it be nice to be prepared in case?"

Groaning, Toph said, "Look, maybe I'll tell them someday, but not now. Okay!?"

"Sure," said the Shifter with a grin.

Changing the subject, Toph asked, "So, what're your parents like?"

Thinking for a moment, Blazer said, "Well, my mom's a little temperamental by can still take a joke, and my dad's quite the kidder. Don't know if they still are though..." pondered Blazer aloud. Since leaving Earth, he had no contact with his parents, so he had no way of knowing what had become of them.

"Yeah, you mentioned that when you told us where you're from," said the blind girl sympathetically.

Sighing, Blazer said, "Yeah, and I haven't seen them for so long, though you know that it's not by choice. My parents and I are literally worlds apart. Thankfully, the Royal Family of the Shifters were kind enough to take me in when they did."

"By the way, didn't you mention that you and the Princess have a thing with each other?" she asked teasingly.

"Yes, Plantra and I are a couple. And I tell you, the first thing that I'm going to when I get back home is-"

"Ok, Lover Boy, don't need to hear it!"

Blazer rolled his eyes and chuckled at her words. Then he remembered his own debility, "You know, Toph, aside from my power problems now, I have a sort of disability of my own."

She turned her head towards him and gave a slight surprised expression, "You do?"

"Yeah, but it's not one that's obvious like yours. Rather, it's inside of me."

"What's that?"

"You ever heard of people who learn slower than most?"

"Yeah…why?"

He went on to explain as best he could what Autism is and how he had a form of it called Asperger's Syndrome.

"For people like me, we tend to do well in some areas of life, and not so well in others. The biggest problem is socializing and making friends, as well as being a bit obsessive."

"You don't seem to have trouble making friends with us."

"That's because I learned to adapt. With the obsessiveness, I tend to be too serious, but as time went by and the more I interacted with others, the easier it became to talk with them."

"But you're still a bit anti-social?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Though Plantra is helping me with that."

* * *

Their conversation continued for a little while until the moon was high in enough in the sky. Then they both called it a night, with Toph creating her own earth-shelter, and Blazer coiling underneath his cloak.

The next day, the travelers kept moving until they came across a part of the pass where a section of it had been drowned. The situation then seemed hopeless.

Then Katara got an idea and shouted, "Everyone single file!" Once everyone did that, the water-bender divided the water, allowing everyone to walk through the drowned out path.

'_Wow,'_ thought Blazer, _'looks like I'm reliving what the Hebrews saw when Moses divided the waters. Only more…small-scale.'_

"Aang, I need help!" shouted Katara as they got further into the water's depths.

Aang then nodded and pitched in by making an air bubble. They continued to walk the path in their underwater air bubble, and as they went by, Momo's curiosity became aroused by the fish swimming near them. He dived in the water wall, only to return back when he saw a large creature, with the rest of the group noticed it too.

"What is that thing?" asked Katara.

The monster broke through the water, breaking the divide. Toph quickly used her earth bending to raise the ground they were standing on above the water. Blazer had a little difficulty keeping his cloak from giving away his form underneath given the fact that his disguise was wet and clung to his body. The monster, which turned out to be a rather large serpent, raised its head from the water and roared at the group.

"WHOA!" shouted Blazer, _'It looks like a mix between a snake and sea horse!'_

Sokka proceeded to state the obvious, "I think I just figured out why they call it the Serpent's Pass!"

"Didn't I point this out yesterday?" said the Shifter.

Ignoring Blazer, Sokka looked towards the painted girl and said, "Suki, you know about giant sea monsters, make it go away!"

Her response was in irritation, "Just because I live near the Unagi doesn't mean I'm an expert!"

Another idea came to Sokka, "Hey Blazer, why don't you-"

"No!" interrupted Blazer, already knowing what the fifteen-year-old boy was going to ask.

Desperate, Sokka then grabbed Momo and held him up to the serpent before shouting, "Oh great and powerful sea serpent, please accept this humble and tasty offering! Thank you!"

In disgust and annoyance, Katara yelled at her brother, "Sokka!"

Aang blew the Serpent back with a burst of air before looking back at the group and saying, "I'll distract it. Katara, get everyone across!" Then he took off on his glider and swooped off as the serpent recovered and snaked after him.

Katara began casting a path made of ice across the lake surface, then ran forward to connect it to the farther shore. Urging the others past her, Katara watched as Aang eluded the serpent in the distance. She hopped onto the water and formed a pontoon of ice around her feet, and then propelled herself toward the fight.

When Aang raced past her, the enraged Serpent close behind, she started to freeze ice around the passing monster's midsection. But with a twist of its body, the Serpent burst free, turning back to chase Katara the opposite direction.

Back with Sokka, rushing on shore behind the others, then turning to see that Toph and Blazer were still stranded atop of the rock pillar. Looking back them, he yelled to both the Shifter and the blind girl, "Toph, Blazer, come on, it's just ice!"

Toph touched the ice with her toes, but Blazer could tell she wasn't going for it.

"Actually, I'm going to stay on my little island, where I can see!" shouted the twelve-year-old.

Not long after her statement, the serpent took out half of her island.

That got her going, "Okay, I'm coming!"

"I'll see to it that she gets across!" added Blazer, still trying to keep his cloak from giving away his true nature. He kept close to Toph as she slowly made her way across, slightly giving her a push while trying to maintain his balance due to the fact that he had a tail instead of legs under his cloak.

Deciding to help as well, Sokka yelled, "You're doing great! Just follow the sound of my voice!"

Toph replied sarcastically, "It's hard to ignore!"

Ignoring her comment, the Southern Water Tribe Warrior continued, "You're almost there!"

However, the serpent slammed down the ice trail, causing Toph and Blazer to fall into a struggle to stay above water. The Blind Bandit had more trouble than the Shifter due to the fact that he could swim.

"Help! I can't swim!" yelled Toph. The others were about to come in and help, but Blazer Just took a deep breath and swam over and grabbed her before slithering through the water to shore. Grabbing onto the rocks, the Fire-Shifter pulled both himself and the Blind Bandit onto the solid ground.

Both panted heavily before Toph pushed herself up and pulled Blazer's head into a hug before saying dramatically, "Oh Blazer, you saved me!" And then she smooched him on the side of his wet face cloth.

"Um…you're welcome…" he said awkwardly.

Back with the thrashing Serpent, Aang and Katara were circling the creature at tremendous speed, stirring up an irresistible whirlpool that held it in place. The spinning monster's neck cracked like a whip against the cliff-side, and it slunk off into the depths. Walking up a rise, the others cheer as Aang flew by with Katara.

* * *

Getting as far away as they could, the weary travelers found themselves descending down the last rise of the pass by sunset. Once they reached that point, the group looked up to see the giant and wide wall of Ba Sing Se in the distance.

Sokka pointed towards their destination and shouted with joy, "There's the wall! Now it's nothing but smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se."

However, the smooth sailing would have to wait, as Tahn's wife, Ying, gasped, "Oh no!" before doubling over while clutching her belly.

"What's wrong?" asked Sokka apprehensively.

"The baby's coming!" yelled Ying in pain as her family helped ease her to the ground.

Sokka, however, began to panic, "What!? Now!? Can't you hold it in or something!?"

Katara took charge of the situation and said, "Sokka, calm down. I helped Gran-Gran deliver lots of babies back home."

Still panicking, the Southern Water Tribe warrior responded, "This isn't the same as delivering an arctic seal! This is a real... human... thing!"

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother's attitude and said, "It's called a baby, and I helped her deliver plenty of those, too." Then speaking with authority, Katara gave orders, "Aang, get some rags. Sokka, water. Toph, I need you to make an earth tent, a big one. Blazer, make us a fire as soon as she does."

Toph earth bended the rock in the ground make slabs of stone that formed a tent around the refugee family. Getting inside, Blazer turned his back to the refugee family before quickly using his fire-shifting to make a fire in the middle. Then he immediately vacated the new birth room.

"Suki, come with me!" and the two girls rushed in to help. Moments later, inside the lit tent, Tahn and his sister held each of Ying's hands. Ying herself was laboring heavily, gasping for breath and sweating profusely. Katara seated herself between Ying's blanket-covered legs.

Katara, doing her best to help the labored woman said, "You're doing great, Ying!" Calling back, she yelled, "Sokka where's that water? Now get ready to push." Sokka entered behind her as she continued, "One...two...three, push!"

As Ying groaned out in effort, Sokka, watched over his sister's back and then slumped unconscious to the ground.

* * *

Moments later, outside the stone tent, Momo perched himself overhead on a tree branch, while Aang, Toph, Blazer and Sokka waited outside the entrance. Aang was huddled despondently to one side and Toph leaned on the other side of the entrance. Sokka sat next to her, mopping his face with a cloth, and Blazer sat next to the Avatar as they all waited.

From inside the tent, Katara yelled, "It's a girl!"

Toph poked fun at Sokka, saying, "So, you want to go see the baby, or are you going to faint like an old lady again?"

Sokka replied confidently, "No, no, I'm good this time." Then Toph and Sokka entered.

Katara appeared outside moments later and said, "Aang, Blazer, you have to come see this."

The Avatar and the Fire-Shifter entered to see the newborn. Everyone was gathered around Ying, who sat propped up on a bedroll. All the attention was on the small bundle cradled in her arms.

Toph was the first to say something, "She sounds healthy." Blazer nodded in agreement with her.

"She's beautiful," said Katara in awe.

Sokka was uncertain as he said, "It's so... squishy looking."

Blazer looked at everyone before stopping at Aang, whose expression melted into a bittersweet smile. Then upon, hearing the newborn give a cry, Blazer stiffened and said, "Excuse me." Then he left the stone tent with the others looking after him a little confusedly.

In Toph's case, however, she understood. From her conversation with him the previous night, people with Blazer's Autism tended to be a little sensitive when it came loud, shrilling noises. And what makes more of that than a newborn?

* * *

Later on, outside the tent, Aang met with Katara. Suki, Sokka, Blazer and Toph stood next to the stone camp. The Avatar then proceeded to speak to Katara while the others listened closely, "I thought I was trying to be strong. But really I was just running away from my feelings. Seeing this family together, so full of happiness and love, it's reminded me how I feel about Appa... and how I feel about you."

Katara wiped a streaming tear from her eye as Aang finished speaking. The two stepped forward and embraced lovingly, tears welling up in Katara's closed eyes. They broke apart as Suki, Sokka, Blazer and Toph came towards them. Katara straightened Aang's collar before backing away.

Toph handed Aang his staff as he said, "I promise, I'll find Appa as fast as I can. I just really need to do this."

"See you in the big city," said Sokka.

Toph slugged Aang's arm, who grimaced and rubbed it sorely as she said, "Say hi to that big fuzzball for me."

"You'll find him, Aang," said Katara softly.

Aang looked at her assuredly and said, "I know. Thank you, Katara." Glancing over at his lemur, Aang said, "You ready, Momo?" Momo chitters his assent.

Before the Avatar and the lemur could take off, Blazer injected and said, "Wait. I'm going with you."

Everyone was surprised by this, and Toph was the first to ask, "Why?"

"Aang and I can get there the fastest, and I need to stretch my wings, so this is the best opportunity to do it," said the Fire-Shifter as he took his disguise off.

Understanding, Toph nodded saying, "Alright Snake Boy. See you and Twinkle Toes in Ba Sing Se."

The three crouched, then hurtled into the sky as everyone waved farewell. The fliers soared over the barrens toward the far-off walls of Ba Sing Se. Swooping over an open desert towards the outer wall, the three zoomed into the distance. Then, soaring up the vertical face of the wall's awesome height and passing through low clouds, the three of them finally reached the wall's summit. They performed a backwards loop and dove in for a landing. Blazer and Aang, with Momo riding on the latter's shoulder, looked serenely out over the wall.

Gazing at the wall and the city inside, Blazer thought, _'Why am I suddenly reminded of the ancient city of Troy?'_

Turning to look back, the Avatar and the Shifter's expressions changed to shock and dismay. On the ground, in the open desert, a formation of two approaching groups of sixteen tank-like vehicles, which were dwarfed by the monolithic drilling machine they bordered.

Aang looked sadly to his lemur friend and Blazer before saying, "Sorry guys, but Appa's gonna have to wait."

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's the third chapter. Sorry it took me so long. Life got in the way. Not to mention that I was originally going to put both this and The Drill together in one chapter.**

**Also, for those who saw the LOK Book 2 premier, was anyone besides me getting that "he's up to something" vibe from Korra's uncle? Maybe they'll be more than one villain this season. And did anyone else find those moments between Bolin and Eska a bit funny?**

**Any suggestions/constructive criticisms would be greatly appreciated in either a review or PM.**


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